Back
to top

Division of Taxation

NJ Digital Tax Map FAQs

What if the current tax maps are inaccurate? This would create a tremendous amount of work plotting deeds and placing them together.
A great deal of expertise was utilized in creating the recommended standards that have been promulgated. Please note that the information provided so far is preliminary and are recommendations only, they are not law. The committee believes that it is part of the responsibility of the licensed Professional Land Surveyor to provide the methods and means to the municipality. There are current NJ Statutes in place for the preparation of tax maps in New Jersey which still need to be followed. To assist municipalities, the Committee is developing a sample RFP and a guidance document which will be more specific regarding the deliverables. This may possibly provide you with additional insight in the preparation of digital tax maps; however, that information is still in the development stage.

Given the option of doing this work in AutoCAD or Micro station, will the deliverables need to be required in both formats?
Detailed information on the file formats will be released as the Division gets closer to accepting digital tax maps. Although the template has been prepared for both AutoCAD and Micro station, the submission of both formats will not be required. The spreadsheet is only intended to provide information on the layer/level names, line thicknesses, line types, and font size/type. The layer/level naming structure is the same for both software packages. The layers/levels were derived from the survey portion of a National CAD standard adopted by many agencies nationwide. Line thicknesses and font size/type are also the same in both the Micro station and AutoCAD versions. These items are based on the current specifications from the NJ Tax Map Standards. There will be a full DGN and DWG version of the template available for download from the State of NJ in the near future. Users will be able to use the applicable version of the template to directly create a tax map sheet that will meet the state’s requirements. All layers/levels, line thicknesses, line types, text styles (font size/type) will be built into the template. The template will also include a sheet model (paper space) of a blank tax map detail sheet or index sheet to use for the printed tax map.

Will trying to reference the tax maps to NAD83 make all of the tax maps plot out due north? Will this prohibit a smooth “break line” between block lines or street right of ways?
Referencing the tax maps to NAD 83 will not cause any issues with the layout of the tax maps. Many municipalities have been working with Tax Maps referenced in NAD 83 for more than ten years. Many sheets use a rotated view that is set-up for referencing data into the Sheet Model or Paper Space for the actual plotting of the tax maps. This only affects how the sheet is rotated for the final tax map sheet set-up. The actual design model information still remains in its proper coordinate space. Generally, the road right-of-ways are utilized as block limits, unless artificial block limits are needed in which case lot lines or streams are utilized as block limits. The entire tax block can and should be on one sheet. Several different scales may need to be utilized for tax maps sheets, if the density of the lots and lot sizes vary dramatically throughout the township.

When can we expect this preliminary information to be mandated and a time frame for the municipalities to get this work done?
A timeline has not been established, as the packet that was emailed to all municipalities was intended to provide direction to those municipalities which were already contemplating moving toward digitally maintaining and updating their tax maps, by developing a standardized CAD (Computer Aided Design) template for digital tax maps. As mentioned in the cover letter, the Division is considering amending the regulations to allow tax maps to be submitted in digital format, but has not yet done so.


Last Updated: Thursday, 12/03/20